I was at The Pig last weekend and snapped these pictures. I had a view of the kitchen and wanted to stare to see what I could see, but was too scared, knowing how guarded the owners keep the inner workings.

I really have no idea why I wanted to make this pizza so badly. I think I liked the name, ''Victory Pig''. It was very tasty and I will be making it again...and again.

Victory Pig is one of the unique pizza tastes in a region where great pizza is everywhere. The nearby town of Old Forge, PA bills itself as the "pizza capital of the world" simply because they have more pizza restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the world. The high percentage of sicilian families over the years has resulted in many families serving their family's pizza at their restaurant and bar and there are many of them up & down the main street of the town. The family that started the Victory Pig restaurant has been so successful that the restaurant is only open 3 evenings a week, wednesdays, fridays, & saturdays.

Victory Pig is so unique that those of us who grew up with it and moved elsewhere spend their lives trying to get it or figuring out how to make it themselves. I'm in the latter category and now that I know how, I can take that flavor with me wherever I go. I have given the recipe to friends & relatives all over the country and it seems to be universally loved. Everyone who has made it is amazed at how easy it really is and how simple the flavor profile of the pizza is.

This forum was a huge help to me in determining the recipe and I love to spread it around so for everyone who has made it, keep baking and above all.......enjoy!!!

I added a pressed garlic clove to the tomato sauce and served Victory Pig pizza as garlic bread with a ravioli dinner. I hope that steel_baker won't hire out a hit on me for that but it was delicious! It was much better than plain ol' garlic bread.

I just wanted to say that I've enjoyed this thread though I haven't seen much success yet. I didn't have the right pans so I ordered some from Northern and plan to try them soon. My wife is from that part of PA so giving her a taste of home has been the real motivation.

The other reason I'm posting is give this thread credit for an unexpected bonus. The wife's family in PA has been aware of my efforts and one them decided to surprise me by ordering two trays of Victory Pig pizza for my birthday and it will be here tommorrow. Can't wait and I figure it has to help to at least try the real thing.

I just couldn't resist shooting this video last night. It's so pretty when that cheese is bubbling & the crust is frying. It's hard to see in the video but the crust has pulled away from the sides of the pan as it baked. These pans are now well seasoned and the pizza just slides right onto a tray for cutting & serving.

I just couldn't resist shooting this video last night. It's so pretty when that cheese is bubbling &amp; the crust is frying. It's hard to see in the video but the crust has pulled away from the sides of the pan as it baked. These pans are now well seasoned and the pizza just slides right onto a tray for cutting &amp; serving.

I can almost taste it, s_b! I've been baking some trays for people who've never had this style of pizza, and needless to say they love it (even those who don't care for onions)! I have to get some more pans; I'm down to one after I messed up 2 of them and haven't been able to bring them back to life.

On another note... I've noticed recently that while applying the sauce my dough will lose some gas and in turn produce a tray that is a little thinner than I'd prefer. Have you ever encountered this issue? Do you know if this normal for high hydration doughs?

On another note... I've noticed recently that while applying the sauce my dough will lose some gas and in turn produce a tray that is a little thinner than I'd prefer. Have you ever encountered this issue? Do you know if this normal for high hydration doughs?

I haven't encountered this before. I continue to tinker with the dough recipe and now I actually knock the crust down with my fingertips just before topping. Even after knocking them down though, I still get enough oven spring to raise them back up.

I haven't encountered this before. I continue to tinker with the dough recipe and now I actually knock the crust down with my fingertips just before topping. Even after knocking them down though, I still get enough oven spring to raise them back up.

It doesn't seem to affect anything other than aesthetics, but it bugs me nonetheless.

Nice looking pie there!! I love seeing the perimeter separate from the pan while in the oven. I recently made a white tray with currywurst; it didn't look so pretty but it tasted great.

Well, it's now time to implement the biggest changes yet to my VP style pizza recipe. I've moved from Pittsburgh, PA to Durango, CO, which sits at an altitude of 6,512' above sea level. I've made trays of pizza here several times over the past few years but in every case, portions of the crust simply break apart when trying to get the pizza out of the pan. What I have discovered is this:

1. The high altitude causes the yeast activity in the raw dough to "race ahead" of the ability of the dough to form an elastic structure to support it. The result is a crust with little to no structure that falls apart.

2. The solution to this problem is to regulate the rise of the raw dough by cutting back on yeast & increasing salt, the result being a slowing down of the rise to give the dough a chance to catch up & build structure to support the rise.

The other issue I have found is that the different brands of canned crushed tomatoes here have a different flavor. I may need to order my canned crushed tomatoes online by the case in order to get the flavors I'm used to having in the end product. It's also harder to obtain the white cheddar that I use for my cheese blend. There doesn't seem to be any pre-shredded white cheddar available but I have seen 7oz pkgs of sliced sharp white cheddar. I may try these for an all white cheddar topped pie. Since VP actually uses Wisconsin white cheddar sliced on a meat slicer as their only cheese topping, this is no big deal but I am interested in the results of laying slices on top as opposed to spreading shredded cheese on top. Otherwise, I'll be buying 2 lb blocks of Cabot sharp white cheddar at Sam's Club, 45 miles from here and then shredding it in a food processor as I've done in the past.

Now that the heat has broken for the season here in Durango, I'll be starting back up on my pizza quest once again. GUess I need to "re-perfect" my pizza recipe & techniques for high altitude. Of course, this pizza is always worth the effort.

steel_bakerYou're right, VP Pizza is always worth the effort. It was one of the first pizzas I made after finding this forum and we still enjoy it mightily. And regularly. I nod toward PA & CO each time I take one out of the oven.

I'm honored! I'm currently in a rental house for the next 15-18 months while we finalize construction plans and build a house, but so far, I;ve found the oven here to be pretty much on target with the temps. The one tray I have baked in it browned nicely and the cheese melt was just what I normally look for in terms of top cooking. It's just that damn structure issue but I'll have that resolved soon.

Season them well and expect some sticking the first few times you use them. Once you get past that, you're golden. I never wash mine. I scrape any stuck bits out, then just wipe them down with a paper towel to eliminate any excess oil from puddling when I store them. Unlike a restaurant that uses them everyday, as a home pizza baker, if you leave oil in them it will go rancid and you'll need to wipe it out of there before using them. Learned this the hard way, nothing like baking your pizza in rancid oil to get your attention.

When I got them out of the box, I gave them the one &amp; only washing with soap (Dawn) to remove the oils they were coated with for shipping, then rub them with Crisco and place them in a 250 degree oven upside down for 2-3 hrs. Then wipe them down &amp; repeat. Mine come out with a beautiful oily coating on them and they're ready for some serious baking.

Mine are all well seasoned at this point and I get minimal to no sticking whenever I bake in them now.

s_b

Hey S_B,

I hope your transition is going smoothly. I am wondering how your pans are doing; are you still using your original blue steel pan that you seasoned with the method you posted above? If so, have you had any problems with the seasoning flaking off? The seasoning on my original pan is starting to flake off to the point I am starting to notice the dough sticking a little bit. I use my pan frequently, but thinking about restaurant use, either my seasoning is coming undone way too early or pizzerias with these pans must reseason them very frequently. To be fair, I can't remember if I seasoned the pan with Crisco as you advised in your post, or peanut oil.

Yes, still using my original fully seasoned pans. No issues. Pizza slides right out. I just wipe them with a paper towel and use fresh peanut oil every time I bake. My dough adjustments are still a work in progress although last night's batch of dough was very promising. I had increased the salt by a third, decreased the yeast by a little more than a third, and increased the water by about 3%. I had a sticky dough that took over 4 hrs to fill the pan with the rise, a very good sign. My normal low altitude recipe would fill it in 45 minutes when baking here at 6500', resulting in a crust with no structure. It would literally crumble trying to remove it from the pan.

The result was a bit iffy after the bake however. I had not realized that the top of the stove in my rental condo got REALLY HOT when the oven is on. I had left the covered pan of dough sitting on top of the oven while it was preheating and ended up with a sticky mess of very, very warm dough. I topped & baked it, and it came out of the pan without breaking up (my objective achieved), had a nice crumb, but was not browned enough on the bottom. I need to re-learn to bake in THIS oven now obviously. Also, the canned tomatoes here in western CO have a completely different flavor compared to what I used back east. I think the answer to that is to order myself a case of canned crushed San Marzano tomatoes online.

I'll get there. I just need to keep baking my way through it but I'll get the flavor & consistency back to what I was getting in PA at some point.

I'll get there. I just need to keep baking my way through it but I'll get the flavor & consistency back to what I was getting in PA at some point.

Well, you aced the recipe once, I have no doubt you'll find the tweaks you need before introducing Pig Pizza to CO! I like San Marzano tomatoes on pizza, but having tried them on this style of pizza, I wasn't a fan. I probably shouldn't admit this in a public forum, but the sauce I like best on this pizza is Furmano's crushed tomatoes. It seems exactly like what the 3 amigos back in NEPA use, and keeping with the available & cheap train of thought, maybe it is. Thanks for the info, now off to buy some Crisco

Oh... if you want any ingredients that are PA specific let me know what; I'd be happy to send some to you.

I think you may be right about the Furmanos crushed tomatoes. I think I read somewhere that VP uses Furmanos tomato products. What is funny is that in PA, it didn't matter what crushed tomatoes I used, they all seemed to taste the same on the pizza. Since coming out here, it seems that all of the canned crushed tomatoes have a different flavor. I've used San Marzano crushed tomatoes before and they had the same flavor as Hunts or any other brand back east. I'm going to try all of the local stores in the area to see if I can find Hunts before ordering anything on line though. I can get virtually any crushed tomatoes I want online if I'm willing to pay the shipping. That's the only rub at this point.

Thanks for your offer to ship me anything I need. I should be able to find what I need though. I just want to get my pizza back on track. I knew when I moved here that I would need to adjust the dough recipe for altitude, I never imagined though that I would be searching for canned crushed tomatoes to match the flavors I had used back east.

Update: I found Contadina Crushed tomatoes in 28 oz cans at Amazon.com for $3.96 ea. Shipping for 3 cans is $4.99 so it's not too bad. Contadina is what I was using back east. I was buying them by the case at Costco. I ordered 3 cans which is enough for 9 trays so I should be able to get the flavor back to where I need it to be.

Funny how you take the little things for granted like being able to just go to the grocery store and buy a can of crushed tomatoes with the flavor you need. Never, ever thought that different canned tomatoes would be an issue.

Update: I found Contadina Crushed tomatoes in 28 oz cans at Amazon.com for $3.96 ea. Shipping for 3 cans is $4.99 so it's not too bad. Contadina is what I was using back east. I was buying them by the case at Costco. I ordered 3 cans which is enough for 9 trays so I should be able to get the flavor back to where I need it to be.

Funny how you take the little things for granted like being able to just go to the grocery store and buy a can of crushed tomatoes with the flavor you need. Never, ever thought that different canned tomatoes would be an issue.

I think 5 and a quarter a can for Contadina is crazy. Can't you get your local grocer to carry some....it's a very common brand Steel.

I think 5 and a quarter a can for Contadina is crazy. Can't you get your local grocer to carry some....it's a very common brand Steel.

Contadina is a common brand in the east and in larger city regions in the west. Not so much in the rural areas of the mountain west & southwest. I live on the western slope of Colorado in a town of 18,000 people. The largest city around (Albuquerque) is 200 miles away. The brands carried locally are primarily small label organics and a few larger brands such as Cento (I've tried Cento- not the flavor I need). The culture here demands loyalty to local farmers & brands, very much farm to table (which I support). Many of the good brands (like Furmano's) are only distributed on the east coast. It is difficult if not impossible to get local grocers to carry a product that might sell a handful of cans a year (to me), when they currently sell volumes of the current brands. I use about (12) 28 oz cans a year.

In addition, it is actually far cheaper for me to buy them on line & pay the shipping than it is to drive the 90 mile round trip down to the next largest town in the area to try to buy Contadina (if they even carry the brand). Before moving here, I lived in Pittsburgh where I could get virtually any brand I wanted locally. The cost of gas these days has shifted much of the economics of living in a small town and must be considered in virtually every purchase decision made these days. For me to pay what amounts to an additional $24/ yr to bake approximately 36 trays of pizza is not a big issue. That's just the price I pay to live where I do.

Actually Muir Glen is a problem. I used them for the last tray I made. Too acidic, needed some doctoring. Also, too chunky to spread on the dough. It needs to be thinned to spread on a soft, sticky yeast dough without damaging it.